José Cleto Nuñez (April 5, 1937 – November 16, 2020) was an American politician from

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Career

Prior to his election, he served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

for 20 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Núñez was elected twice to the Colorado State Legislature, and served as a Republican member of the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

for House District 64 from 1998 until 2001, when he resigned. In 2001, he was appointed by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

as the Denver Regional Director for the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

and he served in that role until 2006.

Personal life

He was married to Lily Núñez, who served as the National Committeewoman for the Colorado Republican Party and as the Regional Director for the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

from 1991 to 1993 under

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. Núñez died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in November 2020, just six days after his wife Lily died of the same illness. He was 84 years old.

References

1937 births 2020 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado Members of the Colorado House of Representatives Colorado Republicans 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly {{Colorado-politician-stub